The purpose of this page is to document how copyright violations are handled by the Computer Science department. This policy and process applies to students working for Computer Science (e.g. a research assistant or teaching assistant) using NDSU-owned equipment operated for the Computer Science department and not students in general.

Copyright and usage violations for the general student population are also handled by Information Technology Services (ITS).

An offense is defined as a violation of Computer Science, NDSU, or NDUS policy using NDSU-owned equipment, or one's own equipment using NDSU network infrastructure. This includes, but is not limited to: Computer Science departmental computers supplied for research, or NDSU networks accessed by a personal computer from any location.

Examples of offenses include (but are not limited to):

• Using peer-to-peer software (P2P software) to download copyrighted materials without permission.
• Using peer-to-peer software to download unauthorized or illegal materials.
• Use of bandwidth that is deemed excessive by ITS to download copyrighted materials for which a person does not have permission to do so.

On a first offense, the person who violated policy will be shown a video, given a short quiz, and asked to sign a form acknowledging that they've viewed the video and understand NDSU policy regarding copyrighted material.

This quiz and/or notice is to be signed and will be placed in the person's departmental file.

The user may lose administrative privilege on the workstation involved depending on the nature and severity of the offense.

Other actions may be taken by Computer Science and ITS depending on the severity and nature of the offense.

On a second offense of copyright violation, the student involved will be asked to meet with his or her adviser and the systems administrator to discuss NDSU's copyright policy and actions to be taken.

A letter detailing the offense will be placed in the student's file, and they will lose administrative privilege on all departmental computers if they have that privilege.

Other actions may be taken by Computer Science and ITS depending on the severity and nature of the offense.

On a third offense of copyright violation, the student will be referred to the NDSU IT Security Officer for further training or sanctions. This may include loss of access to Blackboard, NDSU email, and other NDSU services. Loss of NDSU services is left to the discretion of the NDSU IT Security Officer.

A letter detailing the offense will be placed in the student's file.

Other actions may be taken by Computer Science and ITS depending on the severity and nature of the offense.